Little Man
by Suituuup
Summary: Motherhood isn't that difficult, if you ask Beca. Beca's POV through raising her children. Established Bechloe, fluff all around. Sequel to What to Expect When Expecting.


**Boy, that was a lot of fun to write. Sorry it took longer to publish than originally planned. I got stuck in some parts. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

If yesterday, someone had told Beca she would fall in love with someone other than Chloe Beale, she would have called them crazy.

But that's exactly what happens when a tiny, wrinkled wailing thing tightly wrapped into a blanket is delicately placed into her awaiting arms. Beca feels and hears herself gasp, and it's as if her heart gets bigger by the second, trying to fit all the love she has for Chloe, and about the same amount, perhaps more, for someone else she has just met.

His name is Oliver Carter Mitchell, and Beca swears now and then that she will do everything in her power to make that boy happy.

He's making funny gurgling sounds, and Beca beams, her eyes tracing his features; the tuft of light red hair (she might have fist pumped when she saw he had Chloe's hair) on top of his head sticking out from beneath his white hat, his little forehead that she wants to kiss over and over again, his small and light eyebrows, his squinted eyes, chubby cheeks and pouty lips.

When the nurse is done with Chloe, Beca gently walks to the bed and sits down on it, leaning back against the pillows next to her wife. She glances at her and feels that weird thing go off in her chest again.

Awe, happiness, levity.

"Hi, Mommy."

Chloe looks beautiful. Exhausted, yes, but absolutely beautiful.

"Hey Mama," Chloe replies, accepting the kiss Beca places on her lips before her sleepy eyes flicker down to the new member of their family.

The first official Beale-Mitchell.

"He's so perfect," the redhead whispers, running her thumb over her son's cheek and chin.

"Well, he came out of you, so," Beca states the obvious with a shrug, "He was bound to be perfect."

And when Chloe dissolves into tears, Beca can only chuckle and kiss her forehead, knowing the brief breakdown is just Chloe's hormones toying with her. Her son wiggling in her arms pulls Beca's focus back to him, and his little face scrunches up before he lets out a piercing cry.

There's a few seconds where she has no idea what to do, every little detail she's learned from reading the books flying out of her brain to dissolve into thin air.

The nurse rounds the bed and plucks him out of her arms with a knowing smile, to settle him against Chloe and presenting her breast to him. Beca watches in awe as he immediately latches on, as if he's done it his whole life, and suckles contently.

"Does it hurt?" she finds herself asking, completely mesmerized and intrigued by the sight in front of her as Chloe adjusts to the new task.

"No, not really," Chloe says, running a knuckle along Ollie's cheek. "It's a little bit uncomfortable, but it doesn't hurt."

They get to go home two days later, and Beca drives about ten miles under the speed limit, you know, just in case, given the precious passenger they now have hitching a ride with them. Chloe makes fun of her for it, but Beca knows her wife loves the fact that she's so cautious with their little boy.

"He's so tiny," Beca gushes as she peers down in the crib where their son peacefully sleeps. He's just eaten and been changed, so hopefully they will get a few hours of sleep themselves. Beca's back is sore from sleeping on the cot the hospital staff provided her with, and she looks forward to sleeping in her own bed again, wrapped up against her wife.

"I know," Chloe agrees from over her shoulder, chin resting comfortably in the crook of Beca's neck. "He has your nose."

Beca knows that it's not technically possible, because she and her son do not share the same genes, but it is true that Ollie's nose looks like hers.

"Wanna make out for five minutes?" Chloe whispers into her neck, warm breath tickling Beca's skin.

Beca spins around in her wife's arms, draping her own on Chloe's shoulders. She quirks a curious eyebrow. "Why five minutes?"

She watches Chloe's eyes drop to her lips, then back up, "Because I've just pushed a tiny human out of my body and I'm _exhausted_ , but I also, really, _really_ want to kiss you."

Their make-out ends up lasting much more than five minutes.

There's a piercing cry coming from the baby phone somewhere around one, and Beca tells Chloe she'll take care of it. She stumbles into the dark hallway, her body obviously reluctant to be up and moving at such an ungodly hour.

She peers above the crib; Ollie's face is a deep shade of red, features scrunched up and tiny fists curled as he cries.

"Hey there, little man," she coos, bending down to carefully scoop him up into her arms. "What's up, you hungry, huh?"

She picks him up, still amazed at how quickly her brain and body caught on to be able to maneuver her baby with such ease after just a few days.

His wails subside to ragged cries as soon as he is cradled against her chest, and she rocks him lightly while she gets down to the kitchen to heat up a bottle. She pads back to the nursery after that, and settles into the rocking-chair, chuckling when he immediately latches onto the tip.

She takes her time tracing over his features again; still unable to wrap her mind around the fact that she's helped create this little person, and how perfect he turned out.

"You're lucky, you know that?" she obviously doesn't expect an answer as she looks down at him, but finds big blue eyes staring right back at her.

"You've got the most amazing mom in the world. Her name is Chloe, and she's wanted you so badly. Well, I did, too, obviously," She amends quietly. "But your mommy, she's wanted to be one for _so_ long. It's always been a part of her and I know that she'll be perfect at it. She's a natural."

"I didn't know if I wanted to have kids before I met your mommy. And that's probably because I hadn't met the right person yet. But when I met your mommy, boy, was I in it for good. I mean, I was hooked just a few weeks in. How could I not be? She's kind, funny, beautiful and _so_ talented."

Beca pauses, a smile pulling at her lips on its own accord whenever she thinks of her wife. "What I'm trying to say here, is that I'm new to this whole mom thing, so there might be a few blips here and there, and I apologize for that in advance. But I promise you, Ollie, that I will do everything in my power to make you feel safe, loved and happy."

Beca punctuates her words by pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. She burps him when he's done eating, changes him (she still has to study the diaper for a few seconds to figure out the proper angle, but it doesn't go as far as having to pull-up a Youtube tutorial) and rocks him back to sleep with a lullaby.

When she goes back to bed, Chloe cuddles against her, arm draped across her midsection, and kisses her shoulder. Beca relishes the closeness, as the last month of the pregnancy was spent laying with a specific distance from Chloe, as the redhead complained of being too hot most of the time.

"For the record," she whispers as Beca manages to find her twinkling eyes in the darkened room, "I think you're gonna be an amazing mom, too."

Beca realizes now that Chloe heard every bit of her monologue to Ollie through the baby monitor and she's glad it's the middle of the night because Chloe can't see her face catching on fire from embarrassment.

/

Oliver is quickly dubbed by Stacie a "Baby for Dummies". He sleeps through the night rather quickly, and rarely makes a fuss about anything, rolling with whatever his mommies have decided to do.

Motherhood is really not that difficult if you ask Beca. The two weeks since they have been home from the hospital have been pure bliss.

"Are my babies ready?" She hears Chloe sing-song, footsteps rounding the hallway.

Beca adjusts a few straps on the baby carrier and looks down at her son to make sure he still has room to breathe given the fact that he's pressed right against her sternum.

"I think so," she assesses with a smile as her wife appears in her peripherical, looking quite beautiful in her striped sundress and simple flip-flops. Beca gets momentarily short of breath as she takes in Chloe's beauty; motherhood has definitely given her a permanent glow. "Can you double-check the straps?"

Chloe hums under her breath as she does so, "All good!"

She bends down slightly to be level with Ollie's head, taking his little hand between her fingers, "Are you ready for a walk, baby boy?"

He lets out a grunt that has both women chuckling and Chloe raising an eyebrow. Beca knows exactly what she's going to say before the words even leave her mouth,

"Definitely you son."

"Hey!" Beca says in offence, quickly covering Ollie's ears with her hands, "Don't listen to your mommy, Ollie. She doesn't know what she's talking about. I work out once in a while."

Chloe rolls her eyes as she pulls the back door open, slipping her sunglasses onto her nose as the late afternoon sunlight fills the entry.

"Bec, S-E-X doesn't count as working out."

Even though Oliver can't understand them, Chloe has started -and forced Beca- to spell any word that she judges inappropriate for his young ears. Beca gets it; it would be miracle if he grows up without using curse words with her as his mom.

"Psh, does too," Beca retorts in a childlike manner, climbing down the steps leading to the beach. One of the main perks of being a successful producer is being able to afford a house in Monterey where their backyard leads to a white sand beach. "Well, I guess it depends whether I'm top or bottom, and we both know I'm more of a-"

"Beca seriously," Chloe chastises, eyebrows sticking out from under her shades. She opens the gate and waits for Beca to walk through before shutting it behind them.

Chloe has her, what Beca calls, 'stern mom' look painted on her face when she adds, "There are people around."

There are indeed a few people miling about, albeit too far away to hear their conversation.

"Sorry, Mother Theresa," She sticks her tongue out to Chloe, who presumably rolls her eyes again and reaches out to tickle her side.

"Hey!" she warns, batting the offending finger away from her sensitive ribs, "I'm carrying a very precious cargo over here."

"Oh my gosh, Beca, you're adorable. Hold on," she tugs on Beca's arm to stop. She pulls out her phone and snaps a few pictures from every possible angle.

Ollie is just two weeks old, yet they already have hundreds of photos of him on their phones already. When she's done, Chloe reaches out and grasps her hand, swiftly lacing their fingers together to resume their walk.

Beca feels her son sigh against her, his little heart steadily thumping against her chest. She lets out a content sigh herself, because, really, life is good.

/

Their first night out without their son turns out to be more difficult than planned. Ollie is as cool as a cucumber about being _abandoned_ in the hands of his aunt Stacie and cousin Bella.

Beca, however, is quite the mess, and doesn't understand how Chloe is acting so cool about this.

"There's our cell and pediatrician number on the fridge, please call us if you need anything or to ask a question, or just to say hello or-"

"Bec," Chloe cuts her off gently, grabbing her hand to tug her towards the front door. "Ollie will be fine. We have dinner reservations."

"I know, I know," she grumbles as she shoves her wallet into her purse. "I'm just gonna miss him."

"And I'm going to miss him, too. It's just a few hours. Three tops," Chloe tells her softly, and shuffles closer until she's whispering into Beca's ear, "I promise you I'll make it worth your while, if you know what I mean."

As reluctant as Beca is about leaving her son for the evening, she also can't ignore the strong pull in her stomach upon hearing Chloe's words. Beca is supposed to check out this new venue to possibly play there in a couple weeks, and they have decided to make it a date, grabbing dinner first in one of the restaurants they have wanted to try for a while.

They have also just got the green light from Chloe's doctor to resume to their nightly activities, and really, Beca has never gone so long without having sex with her wife that she's certain she might combust if it doesn't happen tonight.

"We'll be fine, Beca," Stacie says from her spot on the couch, stirring Beca away from her inappropriate thoughts.

Ollie is sprawled out in her lap, giving his honorary aunt a full show of different smiles. At one-month old, he's already quite the charmer.

"Go and enjoy your date, or whatever it is you have planned that I don't want to know about!"

Beca looks at Chloe, then back at Stacie and takes a few quick strides to pluck her son from Stacie's lap, holding him close and kissing whatever skin is the closest. "We won't be long little man, I promise. I love you."

She kisses his small head and reluctantly passes him back to Stacie. "Okay. Okay, I'm ready."

Chloe is shaking her head at her, but also can't seem to resist waltzing into the living-room to give their son one last kiss, under Beca's amused expression.

/

"I'm home!" Beca calls out as she steps through the threshold.

She drops her stuff by the door, discards her shoes and walks to the living room, eager to see her family after an excruciating long day of recording in the studio. She finds Chloe on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table while Ollie lies on her thighs, looking at her with an odd expression as she makes faces at him.

He has just turned three months old, and Chloe's goal lately has been to try and make him laugh, but Ollie is quite the tough crowd.

Beca stands behind the couch and kisses Chloe's cheek before reaching out for her son, who lets out a coo as she scoops him up.

"Hello, little man," she murmurs against the crown of his head after dropping a kiss there. She rounds the couch and sits next to Chloe, whose hand finds Beca's knee. She props Oliver on her lap, making his stand up and sit down a couple times, hands under his arm pits. "Did you have a good day?"

"We did!" Chloe says chirpily and begins to narrate Ollie's day as if it were one big adventure. Beca can't help laughing at the way he stares up at Chloe with wide eyes, as if wondering why his mommy is gesturing so much. "-then we went for a jog in the park before coming back to hang here."

Beca smiles; Chloe has been working her ass off to lose the rest of her baby weight, so they invested in a jogging stroller to kill two birds with one stone. Ollie interrupts the rest of Chloe's tale when he begins to fidget, making a face that's the signal to tell them he's about to start crying.

"He must be hungry, I'll heat up a bottle." Chloe stands from the couch just as Beca props Ollie against her chest in an attempt to calm him down. He immediately turns his head toward her breast, drawing a laugh from Beca.

"Wrong rack dude, sorry."

She moves him back to a lying position on her thighs and takes his little hands in hers, waving them around to try and lighten his mood. She realizes that the radio is on low when she hears a familiar tune.

Her eyes cut to the kitchen, and she debates for a while if that's an appropriate song to sing to her son and whether she'll get an earful from Chloe about this if she does.

" _Getting paid is a forte, each and every day, to play away_ ," Her eyes widen when Ollie stops crying, staring at her with his big blue eyes. She adds a little shimmy of the shoulder and stifles a gasp when the most handsome smile tugs at her son's lips. " _I like the way you work it, no diggity, I gotta bag it up babe."_

She can't believe she's actually jamming to Blackstreet in front of her son.

But then, Ollie produces the most adorable giggle she's ever heard, and her jaw drops. She sings a few more lines, beaming at her now full on belly laughing son.

"Chloe!" She quickly calls out before resuming to sing.

The song on the radio has long ended, but Beca keeps it up, and Ollie keeps producing adorable little sounds and Chloe cries a little bit.

/

They quickly discover that Ollie is quite reckless. He started to crawl a few days ago and acts as if he has a whole world to discover around the house. He keeps going toward the stairs to try and get to the first few steps, and Beca keeps having to snag him back before he hurts himself. She and Chloe didn't think they would have to secure the place so soon.

"Oh my god, he's growing so fast," Beca complains with a sigh.

She and Chloe are relaxing on the couch after their respective workdays, while Ollie crawls around on his playmat clad in his whales pajamas, occasionally lifting his bust or getting on his knees.

He's become the main attraction of the house so just sitting here and watching him do stuff is now an official hobby in the Beale-Mitchell Household.

"Bec," Chloe rolls her eyes and drops a kiss into her hair, "He's _six_ _months_ old."

"I know!" Beca cries, throat getting embarrassingly tight. "I feel like he was born yesterday. And now he's _crawling_. Soon he'll be off to school, and soccer, and then he'll introduce us to his girlfriend-"

"Or boyfriend," Chloe chimes in with a pointed look.

"Sorry," she amends with a wince. "Or _boy_ friend, and then he'll be graduating and forgetting everything about us."

She feels Chloe's fingers rack through her hair and it eases the panic in her chest. "Don't you think you're being a little over dramatic?"

Beca pouts and crosses her arms over her chest, leaning further against Chloe's side. "No."

"Right," Chloe concedes, throwing an arm over Beca's shoulders and running her hand up and down Beca's bicep. "He won't forget about us, I promise. We're too aca-awesome for that."

Beca chuckles, playfully glaring at her wife. "He'll definitely want to pretend we don't exist if you keep using those words. It's lame, dude."

"Fuck you," Chloe bites back playfully, and Beca lifts her head from her chest, eyebrows raised to her hairline, jaw dropped in astonishment.

Chloe sighs and reaches into her purse sitting by the couch to fish out a dollar and place it into the jar under Beca's satisfied look.

It's only been six months and Beca is already about a hundred dollars poorer, while Chloe must have pitched in like, three bucks, and their activities in the bedroom are to blame.

"There," Chloe says once she has accomplished her task, and settles back on the couch. "Happy?"

Beca hums with a smug smile, gaze settling back on their son. His happy demeanor changed to a scolding one while Beca and Chloe were talking, and his face becomes grumpier by the minute.

"Uh oh," she lets out, moving off the couch to pick him up. Over the months, he has learned that Beca wasn't the one to produce what he wanted, and he immediately reaches out to Chloe while babbling nonsense. "Okay, okay, dude, I'm useless, I know."

Chloe giggles and takes him once she has managed to unbutton her shirt. She lies him sideways across her lap and moves the cup of her bra out of the way, Ollie latching onto her breast the second it's free of any barrier.

"My god, he's such a glutton," Beca says as she observes the scene. Chloe laughs and adjust the baby a little bit so that she's more comfortable.

"Well, he _is_ your son."

Ollie extends his hand towards Beca, almost as if to make sure she doesn't feel left out. She smiles and takes it, running her thumb over his chubby fingers. The motion, coupled with nursing, makes his lids steadily dropped until he falls asleep at Chloe's breast a few minutes later.

"Wanna put him to bed while I set the table?" Chloe asks. Beca nods and takes Ollie from her as she rights her clothing. He blinks sleepily upon getting transferred, and Beca slowly walks down the hallway, rubbing his back to make him burp.

Beca sits down on the rocking chair and kicks her foot on the ground to get it going, her voice filling the room as she starts to sing Goodnight Moon to lull him back to sleep.

Ollie's bedtime routine is her favorite part of the day. Chloe has a special bond with their son through breastfeeding and Beca believes she has hers when rocking him to sleep. It's their own special moment.

As Ollie's breathing grows deeper, Beca carefully stands and lies him down in his crib, switching on his mobile as soon as her hands are free.

She takes a minute to look at him, smiling as she traces his features with the back of her pointer finger.

"Do me a favor and don't grow up too fast, alright?" she whispers, retracting her hand. "Goodnight, Ollie."

/

They have a bet going on regarding when Ollie's first word will be.

They could have bet _what_ it would be, but the line is thin between mama and mommy, so they didn't feel like either of them would win.

It didn't occur to them that his first word would be _neither_.

They are out on a Saturday picnic to the park when it happens. Chloe's pointing various things at him; the lake, the trees, the bird, the dog…

"Dog!" Beca's startles, eyes snapping to her son, jaw dropping in shock before a proud smile splits on her face. Ollie is pointing at a golden-retriever passing by, and repeats the words again and again until the dog and its master disappear around the bend.

"Oh my god!" Chloe brings a hand to cover her mouth, and Beca can tell she's trying not to cry. "He's so smart!"

And perhaps they both should be a little upset that neither of them was Ollie's first word, but Beca doesn't really care as her chest soars with pride.

She scoops him up from Chloe's lap and hoists him into the air, bringing him towards her to blow a kiss on his stomach. He squeals in response and Beca feels like her heart might burst from overdrive soon.

A few mornings later though, as Beca gets up for once before Chloe, she's the one to pluck him out of his crib. Like most mornings, he's happily babbling to himself, laying awake on his back.

His eyes light up when Beca appears over the crib and he reaches out.

"Mamamamama,"

Beca gasps, bending down to scoop him up into her arms as she lets out a watery laugh.

Oliver Carter Mitchell, ruining his mother's badass reputation since 2020.

/

Ollie passes the first-steps class with flying colors. He's been standing for a while without support, but would always stumble when he tried to take a step.

Thankfully, they are both there to see it happen. It's not like they are pushing him to do it or anything.

"Come on, baby!" Chloe calls out a few feet from where Ollie stands. She's filming, because she told Beca she had a good feeling about this attempt. Ollie giggles and leans forward slightly, while Beca kneels behind him, ready to catch him if he falls. "Come on, you can do it!"

"Go to mommy," Beca whispers into his ear, eyes widening when Oliver takes a tentative step, then another wobbly one and she hears Chloe gasping.

He takes a total of six steps before collapsing right into Chloe's arms, where she proceeds to attack his little body with raspberry kisses, his giggles breaking the stunned silence.

Beca wipes a tear at the corner of her eye, and knows Chloe is watching her and will most likely talk her ear off about this, but she's okay with that.

She's just so damn proud.

/

Grocery shopping becomes a struggle when Oliver turns two. He's hyper, talks to anyone in the store and sometimes strips when his moms aren't looking.

(Cue to a mortified Beca when an elderly lady tapped her on the shoulder to politely let her know that her son was just in his diaper in the cereal aisle)

He gets all of that from Chloe.

It has always been difficult enough for Beca to go grocery shopping without being recognised by anyone in the store and asked for a photo or autograph.

But now, at three years old, Ollie is his mom's biggest fan and makes it known to the entire world whenever he gets the chance.

"Look, this is my mama," Beca hears at the end of the aisle. She spins around, spotting Oliver holding up a magazine to an older lady. She swears he was by her side a second ago. She might invest in a body harness and leash she's seen other parents with. "She's famous!"

"Ollie," Beca scolds lightly, striding to him. She realizes he's holding the lastest issue of Rolling Stone, where Beca made the cover.

"There she is!" He tells the lady while pointing at a rapidly embarrassed Beca. The lady laughs and nods.

"I see that. Well, you have a beautiful mama, young man."

Beca throws her an apologetic smile as she scoops Ollie up just as he says, "I know."

Beca laughs, shaking her head at him. "You're gonna make them all fall at your feet, aren't you?"

He frowns at her as she sets him back on the floor, wrapping her hand around his small one. "What does that mean?"

"You'll know soon enough, little man." She tells him with a chuckle, tugging him along towards the cashier. "Wanna get ice cream afterwards?"

He sighs, looking up at her with a mischevious grin.

"Mama, is that a trick question?"

/

"I don't think he's ready," Beca whispers to her wife as she watches her son talk with another little girl in the classroom. She worries her bottom lip and turns to Chloe.

"Maybe it's too soon," A beat. "It's definitely too soon, we should bring him back next year."

"Beca," Chloe mutters with a pointed look, throwing an arm out to prevent Beca from stomping over there and cuddle her son. "We've been over this several times already. Ollie's four, he's ready for this."

"But," Beca feels her throat get tight and tears sting behind her eyes, "I'm gonna _miss_ him."

Chloe wraps an arm around her shoulders and nuzzles her temple before kissing it, Beca leaning briefly into her side. "Me too. But it's only half a day."

"You're right," Beca tries to convince herself, and she reaches up to catch a tear before it can fall down her cheek. "You're right."

Chloe chuckles. "You're _adorable_."

Beca scoffs and rolls her shoulders back, attempting to shrug Chloe's arm away. "Shut up."

"Alright parents, say goodbye now," The teacher calls out, and Beca's jaw drops when Ollie simply waves at them from the back of the classroom, already too engaged with his new friends to even come over and give his mothers a proper goodbye.

"Did he just snub us?!" Beca exclaims with an offended gasp, completely flabbergasted, while Chloe giggles beside her. "That little brat!"

They go back to pick him up a few hours later and Ollie runs to hug them both, telling them he's missed them, and Beca feels like she can breathe again.

He's still her little man.

/

Much like Beca, Oliver likes to eat. He's always asking for cookies, and Chloe complains that she's always the bad cop in the family, because she tries to make sure he eats healthy, but knows Beca caves every time he asks for sweets whenever Chloe is not around.

So there he is, sitting on the counter of the kitchen while Chloe is still at work, right hand covered in melting chocolate, and left hand holding a second cookie.

"Mama?"

Beca has been eating her own cookie next to him and, unlike Ollie, managed to keep her face clear of any chocolate. She stifles a laugh at his brown smeared mouth and raises a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah baby?"

"I love you," the four-year-old says, stating it like a fact, just the way he'll say his name is Oliver Carter Mitchell or how his favorite animals are dinosaurs.

Beca's heart swoons. It's such a random time to say it, and she loves that he feels like he can express his feelings whenever he wants to, much like Chloe.

She likes to modestly think that he's the perfect balance of them both.

"I love you, too, little man."

/

Beca tries to pretend she doesn't hear the door open and the sound of tippy toes across the hardwood floor of the master bedroom. She peaks an eye open and catches her son climbing onto the bed, the mattress dipping slightly as he crawls between she and Chloe's body.

She knows exactly what today is, and is surprised Chloe isn't bouncing with excitement, yet.

"Mama," It's whispered right into her ear, and though she expected it, Beca still jolts in surprise. "It's Christmas!"

Ollie can't make his r's properly yet, so it comes out more like 'Cwismas' and it's the most adorable thing.

"Mmm, okay, baby."

"Can we go open the presents?"

He's now straddling her side, chin resting on her shoulder. Beca opens her eyes to find out it's an ungodly five AM.

"Still a bit early for that lil' man," she grumbles, reaching blindly to pat his wild hair. "Two more hours, alright?"

Seven is still too freaking early to be up and moving on a holiday, but Beca doubts that her son _and_ wife accept a later bargain.

"Okay, can I stay here with you and mommy until then?"

Beca's heart melts. Like she's ever going to say no to that. "Sure, sweetie."

He delivers a wet kiss to her cheek and rolls off her to settle in the space between she and Chloe and Beca sighs contently, drifting back to sleep.

She wakes up again much later, not to an excited five-year-old as she expected, but to the smell of eggs and bacon drifting through the house. She feels beside her for any sign of her wife or son, but the sheets are cold.

The clock reads eight, and Beca strongly suspects that her wife bribed their son into letting her sleep past seven.

Yawning, she stretches and decides to get up to investigate. The sight she unveils when walking into the kitchen is quite endearing.

Chloe is cooking at the stove, belting out to some show tune drifting from their portable speaker, swaying her hips to the rhythm while Ollie pretends to be playing a guitar solo a few feet away, still clad in his dinosaur pajamas.

"What's going on here?" she asks playfully after snapping a quick video, crossing her arms over her chest.

Both redheads stop in their tracks, wearing similar expressions of two deer being caught in the headlights. Ollie's eyes light up upon seeing her.

"Mama," he walks to her and demands to be picked up, which Beca does with an exaggerated grunt that makes him giggle. She plants a kiss on his head, "What _took_ you so long?"

"Jeez, sorry," she says, balancing him on her hip as she pads to her wife. She hums against Chloe's mouth as she kisses her good morning. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, wifey," Chloe says, wrapping an arm around Beca's waist to tug her closer, and drops a kiss on their son's nose. "What do you think Ollie? Should we open the presents?"

"Yes!" he exclaims, head bobbing up and down, already squirming out of Beca's arms.

"Thanks for the extra hour of sleep," Beca mumbles sleepily, shuffling close to Chloe after setting him down to let him run to the tree. Chloe hums, kissing her again. "Did you check on the special present?"

"Yeah, he's fine. I think we can transfer him to the box now."

"Okay, I'll go get him."

"And I'll get the camera."

As Beca goes back up the basement stairs with a wiggling box in her arms, she can barely contain her excitement. Oliver has been asking for a dog for a year now, and she and Chloe (well, mostly she, Chloe has been on Oliver's side since day one, _shockingly_ ) finally caved.

She sets the box down, "I think you should open this one first, Ollie."

Ollie crawls to the box as Beca sits down next to Chloe who is already clicking away on the camera Beca bought her for her birthday. Their son gasps when he takes the lid off, and the Red Tricolor Australian Shepherd puppy they picked out at the shelter pokes his head out, tilting his head to the side as he takes in his new surroundings.

Ollie's mouth takes the shape of an 'O' as he stares at it, then at his mothers, as if to make sure this is real. Beca crawls to the box and gently lifts the puppy up, setting him on the floor.

"You gotta be soft with him, alright?" she says, taking his hand and patting the puppy's fur several times, "So soft."

Ollie seems at loss for words as he keeps petting his new friend, other presents completely forgotten.

The family spends breakfast time brainstorming names for its new member, and after hearing about Balto the infamous sled dog, Ollie decides that it's a fitting name for the puppy.

/

"But it was not _only_ a famous monument. It was also a famous house. And inside the famous house there lived a famous person. James Henry Trotter himself."

Ollie beams, blue eyes twinkling as he stares up to Beca. "That was a good story, Mama."

"It was," Beca agrees with a smile, dropping a kiss into his hair as he sits snuggled against her chest. She extends the book to her son, "Do you want to put it back?"

"Yeah," he takes it with both hands and gets up, quickly making the distance to his mini-library tucked in a corner of his room. He runs back to the bed, dressed in his onesie, and scrambles up beneath the covers, tugging the sheets all the way up to his chin.

Beca tucks them tight around him and sits back down. "Do you want me to check for any monster?"

Ollie has been having a series of nightmares involving monsters in the house, so for the last few months or so, the ritual before bed has been to check in his cupboard and under his bed before he goes to sleep.

"No, I'm a big boy, now." He says with a firm nod and Beca smiles yet again.

"All right. I'll tell Mommy to come and give you a kiss," she pauses and narrows her eyes playfully, "Unless you are too big to be kissed by your moms now?"

He shakes his head hastily, red curls bouncing from left to right, "Nuh huh!"

"Phew," Beca makes a show of puffing out a big gush of air, laying a hand over her chest. "Okay, good. I was afraid you might have grown way too fast for a second."

Ollie leans over and wraps his arms around her torso, hands not quite meeting, and Beca's heart swells as she returns the embrace.

"Goodnight Ollie," she says when he pulls away and lies down. Bending down, she kisses the tip of his nose. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mama."

"Hey Chlo?" Beca asks, when Chloe strolls back into the room after giving Oliver a goodnight kiss. Chloe hums as she pulls her hair into a messy bun and settles down next to Beca on their bed. "I think I want another one."

"Another what?" Chloe asks, chin resting on her propped-up hand as she lies on her stomach.

"Another baby."

She watches as Chloe's eyes widen slightly, a blinding smile stretching her face, "Are you serious?!"

Beca nods and waves her fingers through Chloe's free ones, smiling sheepishly, "Yeah. I want to have another baby with you."

The squeal escaping Chloe's mouth is nearly deafening and Beca lets out a huff when her wife climbs on top of her unceremoniously, pecking her lips several times.

"Do you," Chloe starts, tilting her head to the side. She sits back on Beca's thighs. "Do you want to carry it?"

Beca hasn't thought of that; she always assumed that if they were to have another child, Chloe would carry it, too.

"I've never imagined myself pregnant," she muses out loud, brushing a wisp of Chloe's hair back behind her ear. "I don't think that's something I would enjoy. Unless you _don't_ want to carry it?"

"Oh, I totes do," Chloe answers immediately, "I loved being pregnant with Ollie. I just don't want you to have any regrets."

"Nah," Beca shrugs, "Plus, I kinda like the fact that all our kids look like you. You'll be my three red mischiefs."

"Besides, we can always have a third one," Chloe suggests with a shrug.

"Woah, slow down there, tiger. I only have so many hands."

"Maybe we'll have twins."

Beca gulps. Having two newborns at once would be a handful.

"Are we really doing this?" Chloe asks, blue orbs shining in awe as she sobers up.

Beca laughs at her wife's expression and nods, "I think we are."

Chloe has her pinned down a second later, giving Beca an extra-passionate kiss that leaves her on a high for more.

"Beca Mitchell," Chloe murmurs, tone dropping an octave into a husk, "Make a baby with me."

"You know I'm not equipped, right?" she deadpans, yelping when Chloe pinches her waist.

"Shut up and kiss me."

/

Chloe's dad passes away just after Ollie turns six, and she is a mess for several weeks.

Ollie inherited Chloe's sensitivity and empathy towards other people's feelings; he feels it all and feels it deeply. Naturally, seeing his mom like this takes a toll on him, too.

"Mama?" Beca hears his small voice in the doorway of her office. Her eyes dart to the clock which reads nine PM. She rolls her chair around and raises an eyebrow.

"What are you doing up, buddy?" she asks softly, trying to stifle a laugh at the sight that greets her. His red hair is sticking out in all directions and his eyes struggle to adjust to the light. She extends her arms towards him. "C'mere."

He pads to her, his plush dog trailing on the floor behind him, and climbs into Beca's lap. He snuggles against her chest as she wraps her arms around him loosely.

"Is Mommy still not okay?" he asks softly, concerned blue eyes looking up at her. Beca brushes his hair back and kisses his forehead.

"She's still sad about grandpa, bud. But she'll get better."

Her heart aches for Chloe and what she's going through; she and her father were particularly close, and he was amazing with Ollie.

"I think I should cuddle her until she's better," he announces then, and Beca's heart swells with pride; at age six, her son is already a true gentleman and is always concerned about the well-being of his moms.

It's not the first time he says these kinds of things, and Chloe insists he gets that from Beca, who won't admit it, but she's so caring when it comes to Chloe that it must leave an impression on Ollie.

"Yeah?"

"Yes." He says determinedly, bobbing his head up and down. "Mommy always says cuddles make everything better. So I think it's my duty to cuddle."

Beca laughs, wondering where he gets all this vocabulary from.

"Alright, little man. Let's go."

Beca shuts her computer and carries him to the master bedroom. Chloe is lying on her side, back to the door, but Beca can tell from the unsteadiness of her breathing that she's not asleep.

As the light from the hallway bathe the bedroom in a dim lightning, Chloe turns on her back and smiles at them. Her eyes are puffy and red, but she holds her arms out when Beca sets Ollie down on the bed.

"I'm sorry you're not feeling good, mommy," Beca hears him say while she quickly changes into her pajamas. "I think I should cuddle with you until you're better."

Beca hears the distinctive sound of a sob catching in Chloe's throat. "Thank you, baby, that's very sweet of you."

Beca hits the lights in the hallway and slips underneath the covers next to her family. She drapes an arm over Ollie, palm curving around Chloe's hip, sandwiching him between she and Chloe's bodies. Ollie places a wet kiss on Chloe's cheek before cuddling against her chest.

"I love you, Mommy," he whispers, and Beca notices a few tears spill onto Chloe's cheeks and down her chin. Ollie looks over his shoulder, eyes twinkling in the darkness. "You, too, Mama."

Beca shuffles closer and kisses the tip of his nose, then Chloe's, and she reaches up to wipe the tears away from her wife's cheek. Chloe leans into the touch, kissing her palm. "I love you both, so, so much."

Ollie rolls onto his back, and grins up at her, "To the moon and back?"

"At _least_ to the moon and back."

He gasps, eyes widening dramatically. "That's a _long_ trip."

Chloe giggles, and it's the first happy sound Beca's heard from her in the last two weeks. Not only has Ollie inherited from Chloe's empathy, he also has the same ability as Chloe to make sad people smile again.

/

Chloe finds out she's pregnant the following morning. After having to try a lot of times for Ollie, neither woman was expecting it to take so quickly.

"Ollie, c'mere baby," Beca calls out one evening, a few weeks later as he plays with Balto on the living room floor while she and Chloe recline on the couch. He climbs in between them and sits on his knees, looking at Beca expectantly. "Your mommy and I have to tell you something."

Chloe nibbles on her bottom lip as she brushes Ollie's hair from his eyes. Beca can see the nervousness in her features and reaches over to take Chloe's hand. "In a couple months, our family is going to get bigger."

Ollie's eyes light up and he sits up straighter, "Are we getting another puppy?!"

Beca bites back a laugh, "No, not a puppy," He furrows his brow, looking back and forth between Beca and Chloe as though to ask what the hell it could be if it wasn't a puppy. "A little brother or sister."

"Oh."

His shoulder slump down and he seems to think for a minute, during which Chloe and Beca exchange wary expressions.

"Okay." He finally says with a smile. "Can I go play now?"

Beca raises both eyebrows and glances at Chloe, who shrugs, a puzzled look on her face. She nods, and Ollie kisses her cheek, then Chloe's, before hopping off the couch to get back to Balto, who welcomes him back with a few licks to the face.

"Well," Beca drawls out once he's a couple feet away, "That went alright?"

Chloe giggles and snuggles closer to her, placing a kiss on Beca's covered shoulder.

"I guess so."

/

Oliver grows more curious when Chloe starts showing, and asks a lot of questions, to both their amusement.

Well, that is until he asks _the_ question.

"Mama?" He starts one afternoon after school as he eats his snack at the table. Beca's answering an email when he drops the bomb, "Where do babies come from?"

Beca blanches instantly, fingers freezing over her keyboard. Of _course_ Chloe's out of town for a teachers' conference and Beca's left her to her own devices.

How _convenient_.

"Um," She opens and closes her mouth several times, her brain drawing a blank.

She wishes she and Chloe rehearsed some type of answer. She's partly hoping Ollie might get bored if she stalls for a while, but to her dismay, he seems to have forgotten all about his snack and his big blue eyes -innocent and enchanting, like Chloe's- bore into her.

"Well, you see, when two people love each other very much, like Mommy and I do, at some point they might want to have kids. That's what happened with you. We decided that we wanted a child and nine months later, bam! There you were!"

Her breathing stills for several seconds, partly -naïvely- hoping she might get away with her answer.

"But _how_?"

So he barely says anything when he learns he is going to have a brother or sister, but now he wants to know everything about baby-making?

For crying out- _loud_.

Beca ponders the two options in her head for a beat. She goes for the easy one, "We order the baby to the fairies by writing them a letter, and then they deliver it into Mommy's tummy and it has to grow for nine months in there until it's big enough to come out."

Ollie seems satisfied with that answer, and goes back to eating his cookie, while Beca tries to get a hold of her breathing, wondering which part of her brain _that_ came from.

Later that night, when Chloe comes home, Beca is reading in bed. Chloe smiles at her wife and greets her with a kiss before she walks to their en-suite bathroom to wash up.

"So, um, I had an interesting talk with Ollie today," she calls out over the running water, setting her book down and folding her hands over her stomach.

"Yeah?"

"He asked me where babies come from," she begins with an uneasy chuckle and Chloe soon appears in the doorway, toothbrush in her mouth, an amused glint in her eye.

"Uh oh."

Beca grimaces, "Yep, that about sums it up."

"Do tell," Chloe says eagerly; too eagerly for Beca's liking.

Beca starts her tale while Chloe finishes washing up. By the end of it, Chloe pops her head out of the bathroom, sporting an incredulous look.

"You didn't! Fairies, Beca? Seriously?"

"I panicked!" Beca cries out, and momentarily gets flustered when Chloe takes her top off. She can't help it; she _digs_ pregnant Chloe. She's just hit five months and her tummy is definitely showing. Her breasts have expanded, too, which is mostly why Beca's eyes linger.

Her slip-up must have shown on her face because Chloe winks at her before she pulls a shirt over her head and takes off her pants. She pulls her hair up into a messy ponytail and hits the main lights, joining Beca into bed a second later.

"I thought about explaining it to him properly, but then I figured he would ask about how _we_ could make a baby since we're not a man and a woman. And I was _not_ about to launch into explaining sexual orientation to our six-year-old son today."

"Fair enough," Chloe laughs and cups Beca's cheek, kissing her lightly, "I wish I could have seen your face."

"Stop making fun of me, I was mortified!" Beca sighs, moving her hand so that it's resting against Chloe's growing belly. "How's my baby today?"

"She's good." Chloe covers Beca hand with her own.

"Still think it's a girl?" Beca asks with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yep."

The brunette smirks, pecking Chloe's lips. "Wanna bet on it?"

"Beca!"

Beca snickers. "You just don't want to because you lost the last time."

Beca comes home the day after to witness a scene that has her smiling like a fool (she realizes there have been lots of moments that have her grinning like that since she became a mother).

Ollie is sat on the couch next to Chloe, his ear pressed against her stomach. Beca decides to hold back, lingering in the doorway for a bit. She knows Chloe saw her, but their son is too engrossed to notice the additional presence in the room.

"So there's a baby in _there_?" he asks, bewilderment leaking in his words.

"Mmm," Chloe hums, "That's right."

"But… I don't hear _anything_!"

He exclaims, eyes snapping up to Chloe's. Chloe smiles down at him, pocking his nose with her pointer finger. Meanwhile, Balto exhales loudly, setting his head down on his paw as he lies still at the foot of the couch, probably feeling bummed out about not being the main attraction of the family anymore.

"Well she's not making any noise yet. Maybe in a couple weeks she'll kick, and you'll get to feel it."

Ollie frowns, bottom lip sticking out into a pout, "I don't wanna be kicked."

Beca holds back a snort and reaches into her back pocket for her phone to snap a picture or two.

Or fifteen.

"You'll barely feel it. It'll be like a little tap against your palm. She's not _that_ strong, yet."

Ollie seems content with that answer and resumes to his position, ear resting against Chloe's bump. "It's a girl?"

"We don't know for sure. But _I_ think it's a girl."

"Did you know I was a boy?"

"Yes," Chloe says softly, "Since you were our first baby we wanted everything to be ready when you got here, so we wanted to pick a name and paint your room."

Beca smirks when Chloe purposely leaves out the detail that they were too eager to see who had won the bet to wait until birth.

"Oh."

"Are you excited to become a big brother?"

Ollie nods several times eagerly and Beca really can't wrap her head around how lucky she is.

/

Beca is nominated for a Grammy following her album release, and they have to leave Ollie at the hotel with their babysitter to attend the awards. Beca's hair stylist and make-up artist have just finished working their magic on Beca, and the brunette goes back to their bedroom while Chloe finishes up.

Ollie is already clad in his pajamas and making a puzzle on the carpet when she walks in.

"You'll be good for Jen, alright bud?" Beca tells him, catching his attention. Ollie nods and scrambles to his feet, padding to her. He motions for her to bend down, as if to whisper a secret into her ear.

Beca leans in, curious as to what he has to tell her.

"You look very pretty, Mama."

Somehow, he never fails to make her speechless. She wraps her arms around her son and kisses his head. "Thank you baby. Wait 'till you see Mommy, though."

She hasn't seen Chloe yet, and, as if on cue, her wife walks into the room, clad in a beautiful beige flowing gown that hugs her belly. Her hair is pulled up in a bun, strands of curly hair framing her face.

She looks like a Greek goddess.

Beca's mouth dries up a little bit, and she straightens, finding it difficult to blink out of her daze.

"Woah," the comment comes from Ollie, who, when Beca looks down, is staring at Chloe in, she imagines, much the same way she was a second ago.

Chloe lets out a breathy laugh, walking to her family. "What is it?"

"You were right Mama," Ollie says with a nod that pulls both Beca and Chloe's attention to him. "Mommy looks very pretty, too."

Beca winks at her son. "Yep, told ya."

Chloe fans a hand in front of her rapidly tear-filling eyes. "Oh my gosh, stop it, you two."

"Wanna take a selfie, Ollie?" Beca asks, taking her phone out of her clutch.

"Yes!" Beca hands the phone to Chloe and bends down to pick the seven-year-old up, balancing him on her hip while Chloe pulls up the camera app. After taking several pictures -serious and silly ones-, they ask Jen to take one of them to have a full body shot.

"I hope you win tonight Mama," Oliver tells Beca when they are by the door, hugging her tight around the neck.

"Thanks, lil' man."

Once they get inside the car, Beca is shaking her head with a smile that has Chloe question if she is alright.

"More than alright," Beca assures her, linking her fingers with her wife's and kissing the back of her hand. "Our son is quite something."

"Yeah, pretty amazing," Chloe agrees with a beaming smile of her own. "And I think you have a lot to do with that, seeing as you are pretty aca-amazing, too."

Beca lets out a watery laugh at that and points a finger at Chloe. "Stop it or I'll start to cry, and Tanya spent an hour to make me look like this."

"Okay, I'll stop," Chloe leans over the middle seat as best as she can given her bump, to press her lips to Beca's cheek. "I just wanted you to know. Ollie looks up to you every single day and that makes me so, _so_ happy because I know he will be an outstanding human being growing up."

Chloe says it like she doesn't have anything to do with it, and it leaves Beca bewildered.

"He takes after you in more ways than you realize," she tells Chloe, thumb brushing back and forth over the redhead's knuckles. "I'm so glad he got your untamable enthusiasm, kindness and empathy."

Chloe's vision is getting misty now, too. "I love you."

Beca leans in to kiss Chloe languidly. A kiss that's probably ruining both their lipstick but Beca couldn't care less. "I love you too, wifey."

Beca wins. She takes a moment to cherish the victory with Chloe, who kisses her and tells her that she loves her and she's proud of her, before standing on uncertain legs to accept her award.

She thanks her team, the artists who trust her, her friends, her wife and her son, because she knows he's watching.

When they get back to the hotel -not too late because Chloe is seven months pregnant and can't stay on her feet too much-, Beca goes into Ollie's room (ensuite to theirs) to bid him goodnight.

"Mama?" he asks sleepily, eyes blinking open. Beca smiles and adjusts the blanket to his chin.

"Go back to sleep baby, it's really late."

"I saw you on TV," he mumbles, lids fighting to remain open. "You won."

Beca hums, pushing his hair back from his forehead. They really need to get him a haircut. "I did."

"I knew you would," Oliver states with a proud smile. "Where's your trophy?"

Beca chuckles and bops his nose. "I couldn't take it home with me right away. We'll get it next week, I think."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, cool," Beca agrees, and bends down to give him a kiss. "Now sleep. You're way past your bedtime, mister."

"Love you, Mama."

"Love you too, baby."

/

Penelope Joanne "PJ" Mitchell comes into the world two months later.

As Beca watches Chloe cradle her against her chest right after she's born, she wonders how on earth will her heart be able to fit all the love she already has for little Penny, added to what she holds in there for Ollie and Chloe, already.

Once the nurses have cleaned the newborn up and given her back to Chloe, Beca slips out of the room to get Ollie, who has been patiently waiting in the waiting room with his aunt Aubrey.

"You ready to meet your little sister?" Beca asks with a watery smile and Ollie gasps, eyes the size of saucers as he scrambles to get down the chair.

She smiles at Aubrey in silent thanks and takes his hand, trying not to walk too eagerly to the room, Ollie's tiny legs struggling to meet her strides.

The seven-year-old holds back in the doorway once Beca has opened the door, eyes trained on the bundle in Chloe's arms. He seems to hesitate for a second, before taking cautious steps towards the bed.

"Hi baby!" Chloe greets with a beaming smile. She manages to scoot over, and Beca lifts Ollie to sit him next to her.

He peers over the blanket to take a look at Penelope, a frown etched on his face, as if wondering what the hell this is.

"You wanna hold her?" Beca coaxes with a gentle smile, which breaks into a grin when Oliver starts to nod eagerly. "Alright."

She finds a pillow to lay on Ollie's lap, before she carefully scoops the newborn from Chloe's arms to place her on the pillow. She tells Ollie what to do with his arms while Chloe keeps her hand under Penelope's head to support it.

Beca and Chloe both watch with bated breathing for their children's reaction. Ollie gazes at his little sister for a few seconds and doesn't really show much emotion, except curiosity, until the baby lets out a small cooing noise and yawns. Oliver gasps, a look of pure elation on his face and he meets Beca's gaze, then turns his head to look at Chloe, as if to make sure they saw it, too.

Chloe lets out a watery laugh, and Beca's isn't very far behind. She blinks away the few tears that have gathered behind her eyes, and asks the nurse milling about if she can take a picture of she and her family.

Although Chloe claims that she looks like a zombie in that picture, Beca assures her she looks beautiful (because let's face it, she always does), and insists that they get it enlarged and framed to put it on the mantlepiece of their fireplace.

/

To Stacie's _outrageous_ satisfaction, Penelope is a lot less easy to deal with than Oliver was as a newborn. Beca and Chloe find themselves getting up three to four times a night, to either feed her, change her, or simply rock her when they are out of options as to what she might be fussing about.

When they hit the first month, Beca is pretty sure she needs to have both eardrums replaced; their little spitfire certainly has a powerful set of lungs on her and likes to let her mothers know.

When Chloe states she's bound to be a talented acapella singer, Beca stares at her incredulously, briefly wondering what she married into.

It doesn't come to Beca nor Chloe's surprise when Ollie turns out to be the perfect big brother to PJ.

He helps out whenever he can, and plays 'peek-a-boo' with her whenever she fusses. Beca even catches him singing to her one day, and she thinks her heart might be finished, suffocated by all the fluff.

"Okay," Beca announces that night while Chloe feeds PJ on their bed. She has just come into the room after tucking Ollie in, and drops dramatically on the bed, shuffling until she's flush against Chloe's side.

"I'm just going to say it, and I don't care how sappy it might sound or if you repeat it to the girls, but I think I hit the jackpot. My son is amazing,"

Beca says, and kisses Chloe softly, "My wife is downright perfect," she then turns her attention to her one-month-old daughter happily suckling at Chloe's breast. "And you," she leans in to kiss her forehead, "are the cutest, but you really need to sleep better at night, 'cause Mama wants more than four hours of sleep. See, Mama needs her beauty sleep, because she's not like Mommy who still manages to look _dashing_ after twenty hours of labor."

"Mama's silly," she hears Chloe say to their daughter, but the redhead's voice wavers a little bit, showing Beca she's not indifferent to her compliments. Beca looks up from Chloe's shoulder, and moans when Chloe captures her lips in a deep kiss, as best as she can, given their current positions. "I love you."

Beca's certain her own smile could light up the freaking sky.

"I love you, too."

/

"Mama," Beca hears Ollie's muffled voice and feels her sweater being tugged at. "Mama."

Her eyes blink open, adjusting to the light. Her glasses are askew, and her book lies forgotten on her chest. She fell asleep. "Yeah buddy?"

"PJ's awake."

"Oh, okay," she sits up slowly, becoming aware of the gurgling sounds emitting from the baby phone set on the coffee table. When she gets to the nursery, her daughter is indeed awake, staring at the ceiling contently as she chews on her fist. "Hey bug."

The four-month-old gives her a toothless smile that has Beca grin back, and lets out a coo as Beca bends down to pluck her from her crib. She goes back downstairs and sets her down in her bouncy chair, fastening the little straps across her daughter's chest before fetching a bottle inside the fridge.

When Beca comes back into the room after heating it up, she finds Ollie talking animatedly to his little sister, and Balto sprawled out next to them. She reaches into her back pocket for her phone, snapping a few pictures to show Chloe later.

Beca settles on the couch with PJ in her arms and Ollie is shortly next to her, snuggling against her side as she feeds her. His small hand comes up to brush the baby's hair.

"How come her eyes are dark?" he asks after a while, frowning. "Mine are blue and I'm her brother."

"Small babies are often born with dark blue eyes, but it might change afterwards."

Ollie hums, seemingly satisfied with the answer, and looks up at Beca with sparkling eyes, "I'm happy to be a big brother."

"That's a good thing, because we can't return her," she jokes, bending down to kiss his forehead. "Your mommy and I think you are an amazing big brother."

He beams at that, "I'm gonna teach her how to color, and climb trees, and play fetch with Balto."

Balto lifts his head at the mention of his name coupled with 'fetch', before setting it back down with a heavy sigh when he realizes he isn't actually being called for.

"We might wait a bit for the whole climbing trees thing. She's very little still. First, she has to learn how to walk, then we'll see."

Ollie sits back. "Oh. It's okay, I'll wait."

/

"Mama," Beca grumbles something, before she opens her eyes to find Ollie standing very close to her face.

"Ollie," Her eyes flick to the alarm-clock. "It's four in the morning, how come you're up?"

"I don't feel good," he says, bottom lip sticking out in a pout. Beca rubs the sleep from her eyes, sitting up. "I threw up."

"Oh, baby," She lifts him up onto her lap, and presses her lips to his forehead, "You're really warm. Does your tummy hurt?"

Ollie nods, snuggling up against her chest, "And my head, too."

"Okay," Beca sighs, throwing her legs over the size of the bed and standing up, adjusting Ollie on her hip. "Let's check you out."

She walks to the bathroom and takes out the thermometer from one of the cabinets, pressing it to his temple. "101.9. Looks like you won't be going to school in the morning."

"I stay here with you?" He asks, soft blue eyes meeting Beca's. Beca has been working from home lately to be able to take care of PJ when Chloe's leave from work ended. Setting him down, Beca looks inside the cupboards from some Tylenol and fills a cup with it, ending both items and making sure he swallowed the pill.

"Yeah," She lifts him up and hits in the lights in the bathroom, before padding back to the bed. She narrows her eyes at him, "Are you going to throw up?"

"No, I don't think."

"Alright, wanna spend the rest of the night with Mommy and I?"

He nods sleepily, head lolling against Beca's shoulder. She sets him down on the mattress and goes to his room to undo his bed and throw the sheets in the laundry machine. When she comes back, Ollie is cuddled against Chloe, already dead to the world.

"Maybe I should stay home, too," Chloe says the next morning, nibbling on her bottom lip.

"Don't be ridiculous," Beca replies as she feeds PJ some fruit puree. "I can take care of him."

"I didn't imply you couldn't," Chloe immediately amends, draping an arm around Beca's shoulder as she stands next to her.

Beca opens her mouth wide and pretends to fly the spoon as if it were a plane, smiling when her daughter opens hers without making a fuss.

Beca smiles and winks up at Chloe, "I know. Just go to work, Ollie, PJ and I will watch cartoons all day long. We'll be fine."

"Okay, okay," Chloe heaves a sigh, moving to set her cup of coffee down in the sink. She kisses Beca lightly, then PJ, and bids them a good day. "Love you!"

It's a little more than an hour later that Chloe's first text comes through. Beca and Ollie are belting along to Hakuna Matata, while PJ checked out a long time ago, preferring to play with her set of plastic shapes on the playmat.

Beca grabs her phone off the couch and looks at it.

 **From:** Wifey

 _How are my babies? *pout*_

Beca pulls up her camera and snaps a quick film of their current situation; Ollie completely engrossed in the Disney film, Balto snuggled up against his master (he's normally not allowed on the couch, except on sick days), and PJ babbling away to her toys. She presses send and adds:

 **Everyone moved on from Mufasa's death with flying colors. Only a few minutes of crying. Next up: Mulan.**

Chloe's reply is instant, _Aw,_ _did Ollie cry, too? ;)_

Alright, so she can't help it, no matter how many times she watches _Lion King_ , she ends up freaking bawling when Mufasa dies, and Chloe has been teasing her for years.

 **Bite me, Beale.**

 _You're adorable. Give a kiss to my babies for me._

 **Will do. GTG, Ollie is glaring at me because I'm missing the movie. I wonder who he takes that after, mm?**

 _I don't see what you mean. *innocent eyes*_

When Chloe gets home around five, Beca is arms deep into building a pillow fort with her kids. Well, PJ just keeps bumping against the cushions and laughing hysterically when they all topple over.

Beca should be frustrated about having to do it over again, but her daughter is so stinking cute that the smile tugging at the corners of her lips wins over the frown.

"What's going on here?" Chloe asks, setting her hands on her hips as she eyes her family with a laugh.

Beca has given up thirty seconds ago, and is now laying sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by an array of throw cushions and pillows, PJ climbing on and off her while Ollie decided to abandon ship to pass out on the carpet a few minutes ago.

"You left me alone with our two crazy kids, that's what's going on," Beca grumbles good-naturedly, grunting when their one-year-old realizes Chloe's here and promptly uses Beca's stomach as a springboard to get herself up and waddle to her mom. She's babbling a mash-up of _mommy_ and _mama_ , until Chloe bends down to lift her into her arms.

"I see you've survived," Chloe notes as she looks down at Beca, before sitting down next to her in the middle of the what-should-have-been pillow fort. She leans in to kiss Beca, turning it short when PJ pats their cheeks to make them break apart. Apparently kissing is not allowed these days.

Beca lets out an exaggerated huff, "Barely."

"Mommy?" a tiny sleepy voice catches both their attention. OIlie is sitting up, rubbing his eyes with his fists. "You're home!"

"Yeah baby," Chloe says as Ollie crawls to her and gives her a hug, little legs wrapping around her waist, narrowly missing hitting PJ in the process. Beca is sure she could add a third kid in there and Chloe would still handle everything perfectly, while _she_ would be on the verge of a breakdown. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Did Mama nurse you back to health?"

Ollie looks up with a frown, "What does that mean?"

Chloe smiles, pushing his hair back and pressing a kiss to his forehead. "It just means that Mama managed to make you feel better."

"Oh, yeah. I feel much better."

Beca is sick the following morning, and begs Chloe to stay home and 'nurse' her back to health.

/

"Mama?"

Beca looks up from her book to catch Oliver's eye as he colors on the floor, Balto sleeping next to him, "Yeah baby?"

"What's your second favorite animal?"

"Why my second? You already know what my first is?"

"Well, everybody's favorite animal _has_ to be a dog!" He says, looking at her with a _duh_ expression on his face. Beca laughs. "It's like if I asked you who your favorite person is, we all know it's Mom. So I would ask you who your _second_ favorite person is, instead."

Beca looks at her son blankly, not expecting such a thorough reasoning from her nine-year-old son.

"Your mom, you and PJ are _all_ my favorite person."

He frowns, "You can't have _three_."

"Why not?" Beca asks with a raised eyebrow, "Who is _your_ favorite person?"

It's probably immature to ask her kid that, but now Beca really wants to know.

"Alright," Ollie concedes with a sigh after a moment of thought. "I guess you can have three."

/

When Ollie's teacher calls Beca to tell her there's been an accident, Beca feels her heart plummet to her stomach. It's only (the teacher's phrasing) a broken arm, but Beca breaks about five laws as she speeds to the hospital from her studio.

Chloe has yet to arrive when she gets there (Beca called her, the first of her law-breaking series), and she rushes to the counter to asks where her son is. She's probably making a scene when there's no need for it, but she doesn't care.

She's led to a room down the hall, where Ollie is watching a cartoon on a tablet, the brand-new green cast on his forearm apparently the least of his worries.

"Hey buddy," she says as she takes the few remaining steps separating her from her son, "Are you okay?" She hugs him tightly, tucking his head against her chest, and feels like she can breathe again. "You scared me."

"I'm okay," The ten-year-old responds, and Beca lets him pull away. "Sorry I scared you, I wanted to make a human pyramid, but things didn't go as planned."

Beca chuckles and ruffles his hair, "You don't say."

Chloe arrives a few minutes later, a little breathless and panicky-eyed, carrying a fussing PJ on her hip. Beca takes the three-year-old from her wife and steps outside to get her daughter an ice-cream. When they get home an hour later, Beca draws a kick-ass superhero on Ollie's cast and he beams at her, stating everyone at school will be impressed.

Beca goes into another over-protective fit on PJ's first school day, and just like last time, Chloe rolls her eyes at her, and promises to distract Beca when they get home.

And, just like last time, it works.

/

"Damn."

Beca lets out before she can help it when Chloe appears in her line of vision, and her cup of coffee slips out of her grasp to land on the table with a clatter.

Beca, as clumsily as it gets, tries to catch it before it falls to the floor but fails. Chloe laughs, walking to her in a red dress that leaves little to Beca's imagination as it hugs her curves in the most perfect way. They are supposed to go to a party held by one of Beca's artists.

"Ma, jar!" Ollie quips from his spot on the living-room rug where he's reading a book, looking quite proud of himself for telling on his own mother.

"Yeah, yeah," Beca grumbles, placing the cup in the sink before fishing a dollar from her back pocket and shoving it into the swear jar.

"Our son is too well-behaved," she mutters as she makes a bee-line for Chloe, wrapping her arms around her waist. "You look amazing."

"Thanks baby," Chloe murmurs, leaning down to press her lips to Beca quickly. But Beca isn't having any of it, catching the back of Chloe's neck to deepen the kiss instead.

"Ew," The comment doesn't come from Ollie this time, but from PJ, who is coloring next to her brother. The four-year-old is peaking at them through her fingers, "Icky."

"Oh my gosh," Chloe is shaking her head while Beca chuckles. "Is Mommy kissing Mama icky?" Her wife asks as she bends down to scoop PJ into her arms, hoisting the little girl into the air. Their daughter shrieks in pure elation, trying to squirm away when Chloe peppers kisses on her face and neck.

The next morning though, Beca's language slip-up bites her in the ass. They are all sitting down for breakfast out on the terrace on a sunny morning when PJ's water cup drops from her hold.

"Damn!" the toddler exclaims, looking at her cup, now on the floor.

Obviously, she doesn't know what the word means, she's just mimicking Beca after the same thing happened to her last night.

Beca is laughing so hard that she barely catches the pointed look Chloe sends her. She tries to sober up, but the expression on her daughter's face is too irresistible that she fails.

"Sorry, sorry," she manages after a while, reaching up to wipe the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Chloe is glaring at her, "At least she's smart!"

/

Beca has never really had any trouble with Oliver. He rarely threw any tantrums when he was a child, and while she is wary when he reaches his teenage years, she knows he has a good personality that even teenage hormones can't make go away.

Beca has been pilling hours at work, struggling to meet the deadlines for one of her artist's new album. She spends long days in the studio, and everyone is already in bed when she comes home, when she doesn't sleep at the studio, that is.

One night when she comes home well after eleven pm, she is startled to see Oliver in the kitchen.

"Hey bud," she greets with a yawn, making a beeline for the fridge to get herself a beer. "What are you still doing up? It's a school night."

The thirteen-year-old barely acknowledges her, "Waiting for you."

Beca frowns as she moves to the cutlery drawer to take out the beer opener. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

Beca stops in her tracks, and sets the beer on the counter, leaving it unopened as she spins around to meet her son's eyes. She has never heard him address her in such a cold tone, and this, added to her lack of sleep over the last few weeks make her patience thin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asks with a frown.

Ollie has his arms crossed over his chest and his jaw set. He reminds her of Chloe when she's angry at Beca for whatever reason. "Are you cheating on Mom?"

Beca lets out a laugh that turns into a cough when she chokes on her saliva. She's wiping at her eyes and sees that Oliver hasn't even cracked a smile. "Are you _serious_?"

"Well, you're at work all the time and you don't even sleep in the house anymore."

"Okay, okay," Beca sighs and moves to sit at the table across from him. "I'm sorry for laughing," she reaches to take his hand, but he wrenches it away before she can touch it. Beca recoils, as if burned, and the seriousness of the situation dawns on her. "Ollie, I would never cheat on your mother. I am so in love with her, it's kind of crazy. Where did you get that idea from?"

"I told you, you're barely around anymore," Ollie's blue eyes are ice cold when they meet Beca's. "Mom is sad, I can tell. She doesn't want to show it, but you never being home takes a toll on her."

Beca fails to remember the last time she came home early enough for dinner. Realization comes crashing down on her shoulders like a ton of bricks.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't realize," Beca whispers, her voice suddenly stuck in her throat by the grasp of her guilt.

"I'm sorry for asking if you were cheating on her," he admits after a beat of the heavy silence floating in the room. "I just… I was afraid you might leave us."

"Oh baby," Beca is out of her seat in an instant and pulling Ollie into a close embrace. "I would never, ever leave you guys. Your mother, you and your sister are the most important people in my life. More important than my job, or any award. But in order to give you all you deserve, I have to work, that's why I'm not around much these days."

She hears him sniffle and the pain in her chest is probably from her heart snapping into two. She remembers the promise she's made to Ollie the day he was born, and right now she feels like she's let him down.

"If I tell you I don't need everything you give me, like expensive clothes and games, will you get to spend more time here?"

Beca is crying at this stage, too. Every day Ollie shows she and Chloe how caring and selfless he is, and she can't bear being a disappointment to such a beautiful person.

"I promise I will spend more time here regardless, starting tomorrow," she pulls away and cups his face. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings. Will you forgive me if I make things right?"

He hesitates, but eventually nods. "I guess so. But I think you should apologize to Mom."

"I think so, too. And I will." Beca exhales deeply and kisses his forehead, "Thank you Ollie. I love you,"

"I love you, too, Ma."

He goes to bed a minute afterwards, and Beca leaves the kitchen, beer left untouched, to walk to the master bedroom. She pushes the door open gently. The room is already dark, and she spots Chloe lying on her side, her back to the door. She hears a sniffle and wants to punch herself in the face.

Beca moves quickly to put her pajamas on and brush her teeth, before she slides beneath the covers until her front is flush against Chloe's back. She drapes an arm around her wife's midsection, thankful that Chloe doesn't push her away.

"Chlo, baby?" she says softly, hovering above her to try and see her face. "Are you awake?"

She sees Chloe nod and expects her to turn around, except she doesn't.

"I'm sorry I'm home late, _again_ ," Beca drops a tentative kiss to Chloe's bare shoulder. "Things will change from tomorrow. I'll be home for dinner and breakfast the next morning. I'm sorry I wasn't around much the last few weeks, it's unacceptable and you're right to be giving me the cold shoulder."

A few seconds pass, and Chloe remains silent. Beca sighs and lies her head down onto the pillow, trying to reign the tears in.

"I love you," she whispers into the darkness, trying to get past the pain shooting in her chest. She hears Chloe reciprocate, though it's futile, but she knows Chloe can't stand not saying it back, no matter how mad she is. Her wife has always had this fear of someone dear dying without them knowing how loved they were. Whenever they have a fight, Chloe always tells Beca she loves her, no matter how angry she may be.

Beca wakes up before Chloe the next morning, and rushes around the kitchen to get everything ready before her wife gets up.

When she does, PJ and Ollie are already eating theirs, and Chloe's step falters when she sees Beca is there too. Beca sends her a sheepish smile when Chloe walks to her.

"You're here," Chloe's voice is hoarse, probably from crying, and Beca really wants to kick herself again. Hopeful blue eyes watch Beca like a hawk.

"I meant what I said yesterday," Beca says, reaching out to weave her fingers through Chloe's.

"You made all this?" Chloe asks, eyeing the pancakes and freshly pressed orange juice sitting on the table.

Beca hums in affirmative, "It's not much but I thought you'd like it."

Then Chloe cups her face and kisses her deeply, as if she hadn't kissed her wife in too long. Beca moans and grasps Chloe's wrist, returning the kiss just as eagerly. They remain that way, wrapped up in their love for each other, until Penelope makes a disgruntled noise from her seat a few feet away.

"Ew, moms," The seven-year-old rolls her eyes, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "We're eating, here."

Oliver chuckles in between shoving pancakes into his mouth. Chloe pecks Beca one last time before she moves away to pour herself a cup of coffee. The brunette meets her son's eyes and smiles, mouthing a 'thank you' his way.

He shrugs and goes back to reading his comics, and Beca wonders yet again how she got so lucky.

/

"Hey Ma?" Beca hears her son call from the living room. She dries her hands on the nearest dish towel and walks over there.

"What's up little man?" she asks, bending down to kiss his forehead. His nose scrunches up in embarrassment at being kissed by his _mother_ , so Beca does it again just to mess with him. He's in a phase where he wants to come across as tough and cool in front of his friends, but Beca knows it will pass.

"I'm not little anymore," the fifteen-year-old protests, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her. Chloe always says he gets his sulking manners from Beca, and the sight in front of her confirms that theory.

"Sure," Beca mocks, pursing her lips. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really," he says with a sigh, fidgeting with the zipper of his hoodie. A coy smile appears on his face, "I like this girl at school and I don't know if she likes me back."

Beca is suddenly choking on her saliva, because one: she knows this day would come, but he's only fifteen, for god's sake.

And two: why does he always pick her to ask those kinds of questions? Chloe always knows what sort of things to say to everything while Beca is just a huge web of awkwardness and bad advice.

Really, their son should know that by now.

"Okay…" Beca drawls out, hoping to stall this for a minute or two, because Chloe is bound to come home any minute now and might take the lead on this.

"She smiles at me all the time and says hi every morning by our lockers, but I don't know if she's just being nice or if she likes me."

"Well," Beca starts. "Maybe you should just _ask_ her?"

Who is she kidding? It took her four years of hanging around Chloe to make a move.

"Mom!" Ollie grumbles, frowning heavily. "That would be mortifying."

Beca laughs before she can stop herself.

"Okay, sorry."

She bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from cracking up. Her son is definitely blushing, and it's quite the sight.

"Isn't spring dance coming up? Maybe you should ask her to go with you. Lots of boys ask girls to the dance without it being too much of a big deal. If she says yes, there are strong chances she likes you."

Ollie seems to ponder her advice for a moment, "That's a good idea. Please don't tell Mom about this? She'll go over the top."

Beca laughs and nods her head, thumb and pointer meeting and drawing a line over her mouth, "My lips are sealed."

The front door opens and closes, and there's a turmoil of little feet running until Beca is suffocated by a hug.

"Hi Mama," Penelope greets, placing a wet kiss on Beca's cheek.

"Hi, PJ," Beca says with a grin, bopping her daughter's nose with a knuckle. "How was your day?"

The nine-year-old starts to narrate her day -as talkative as Chloe, that one- and soon, Chloe joins them after finishing up her phone call. The whole family ends up on the couch, letting the youngest of the troop entertain them until dinner.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Chloe asks later that evening once she's settled underneath the covers, and looks at her wife.

"What do you mean, what's wrong?" Beca replies, naïve to think that, after all these years of marriage, Chloe might not notice her low spirits.

"You've been sulking since we've come home," Chloe sighs. She turns onto her side and runs a hand up and down Beca's arm. "Want to talk about it?"

Beca shrugs, picking at a loose thread on the bed comforter. "I feel blue."

"Baby," Chloe says softly, shuffling closer and tugging Beca against her side. "Is there a specific reason why?"

Beca lifts her head, "Oliver told me today that he liked a girl and that he wanted to know what to do."

"And that makes you upset because you feel like he's growing up too fast."

Beca should give her wife more credit for knowing what's going inside her head every freaking time.

She settles back against Chloe's shoulder, grabbing her wife's hand to play with her fingers. "Yeah."

"I understand," Soft lips drop a kiss into her hair. "It's not easy watching them become adults. But Oliver is only fifteen and PJ nine, we still have plenty of moments to share with them before they really spread their wings."

At that, Beca completely loses it and she starts crying uncontrollably into her wife's chest.

"But he's my little man," She wails, tears already drenching Chloe's shirt. "I'm not ready to see him become an adult."

"I know," Chloe whispers, hand drawing soothing circles on her back. "Neither am I. But even when that does happen, it's not like he's going to leave forever. He's such a Mama's boy, he can't stray away from you for too long."

Beca nods, and lifts her head a minute later, wiping underneath her eyes, "Shit, I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me."

"Don't be. I'm glad you spoke to me about this."

Beca huffs, "Like I had any choice. You would have bribed me into telling you."

"Bribed you, huh?" Chloe asks cheekily, eyebrows wiggling. "How?"

"Tsk," Beca rolls her eyes, "By withholding sex until I talked."

"Oh yeah," Chloe admits cheekily, "That does work every time."

Beca sticks her tongue out at her wife, "What can I say, I can't keep my hands off you," She kisses Chloe lightly to emphasize her words, "Oh, by the way, I promised Oliver I wouldn't tell you because he doesn't want you to make too much out of it."

Chloe gasps, recoiling as if burned, "I wouldn't!"

"Chlo…"

"Okay fine," Chloe pouts, "I won't mention anything."

"Thank you."

There's a mischevious glint in Chloe's eye a second later, "Now, about that thing of you not being able to keep your hands off me,"

"Mmm," Beca hums, closing the gap between herself and Chloe. She rubs her nose against the redhead and kisses her languidly. "I've missed you today."

"I've missed you, too," She flips so that she's on top of Beca, and the brunette growls, "Let's make up for lost time, shall we?"

/

"Hey Ollie," Beca greets when her son walks into the kitchen one day after school.

"Hey," he replies in a low tone that has Beca lift her eyes from her screen.

"You okay?"

He shrugs, and Beca shuts her laptop to give her son her sole attention. "Jenny broke up with me."

"Oh." She stands from her seat and moves across the room to sit next to Ollie. Wrapping an arm around his back, she pulls him against her. "I'm sorry buddy."

Jenny was Ollie's girlfriend for the last year, if Beca remembers correctly, and his first real love. Beca remembers when her pseudo-boyfriend broke things off in senior year. Even though she wasn't in love with him, she was still crushed from being rejected.

The seventeen-year-old returns the embrace and Beca drops a kiss into his red hair.

He pulls away and gives her a small smile, "I just want what you and Mom have."

Beca never thought she would be an example to anyone.

She chuckles, "Well, that took a lot of work. Mostly because neither of us were ballsy enough to admit our feelings to each other. We knew each other four years before we started going out, y'know."

"Oh. No, I didn't know. Who made the first move?"

Beca rolls her eyes, "Your mom. Did you think _I_ made the first move? I'm too awkward for that."

"Yeah, you're right."

Beca gasps and shoves him lightly. The teenager laughs and pulls her into a side hug. He's much taller than Beca now, but she still asks, "Would you like a hot chocolate and some cookies?"

"Ma, is that a trick question?"

/

Ollie is accepted into Juliard, and Beca is torn between feeling extremely proud and sad that her son will be off to college to the other side of the country for several years.

"Text us when you land, alright?" Beca asks as she pulls away from Ollie. She looks down to blink away her tears and steps aside to let Chloe hug him.

"I will," he affirms with a nod, ruffling Penelope's red hair to mess with her. She shoves her big brother, but ends up wrapping her arms around him in one last embrace. "Love you guys."

He sets off towards the security gate a few seconds, backpack over his shoulder, and Beca sets her jaw hard to keep from bawling her eyes out. As her son disappears around the corner, Beca loops an arm around her daughter's waist and kisses her head.

When they get back home, Beca spends a few minutes in Ollie's now mostly empty room. She catches sight of the book Chloe gave her as a present for their first Mother's Day and walks over to grasp it, despite knowing deep down it's a bad idea to go through it given her emotional state.

She is a bawling mess when Chloe comes to check on her half an hour later.

"Oh, babe," the redhead says gently, kneeling down in front of Beca as she sits on Oliver's bed, the baby book clutched to her chest. Beca rolls her eyes at herself, reaching up to her tear-streaked cheeks.

"I'm being silly."

"No, you're not," Chloe states, moving to sit down on the bed and pulling Beca against her. "I'm sad, too."

"God, I'm sorry," Beca mumbles wrapping her arms around her wife's back. "I'm being selfish."

"No, I didn't say that for you to feel guilty," Chloe assures her, planting a kiss on Beca's temple. "I just meant that it's normal for us to feel sad, our first baby just left the house, after all."

"Yeah," Beca murmurs shakily, another round of fresh tears filling her eyes to the rim. "I still can't believe it."

"Can I take a look?" Chloe asks, tapping the back of the album. Beca nods, releasing her hold on it. She snuggles close to her wife and opens the first page, both of them chuckling at Ollie's first baby picture. They had a photographer come to their house to get newborn pictures. "Oh my gosh, he was precious."

Beca smiles and flips the page, taking a moment to look at the photos of she and Chloe as Bellas. "We looked good."

Chloe hums, running her hand up and down Beca's back. "We still do."

"Hell yeah," Beca agrees, pulling away shortly to give Chloe a lingering kiss. They go through Ollie's childhood milestones together, until getting to his graduation photo just a couple months ago. Chloe has been very thorough in keeping he and PJ's books updated over the years.

An envelope stuck to the inside of the back-cover grabs Beca's attention. The words 'Moms' is written on it in Ollie's handwriting. Beca glances at Chloe, who wears an equally confused look on her face. She opens the envelope and pulls out a note, starting to read it out loud.

 _Dear Moms,_

 _I figured you would look at my baby book once I was gone. I hope I'm right and that you'll find this._

 _I'm sad to move this far away from you guys, but I know you'll visit and it's only going to be for a couple years. I'm also excited to discover new things, and I know you are happy for me._

 _As I begin a new chapter of my life on the other side of the country, I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am to have you guys as my parents. You have both been, and will remain amazing role models to PJ and I._

 _Love,_

 _You son, Ollie_

Beca's voice breaks over her son's name and she reaches up to do some damage control as tears seem to flood out of her eyes like a river.

"You found Ollie's letter?" PJ's voice pulls them out of their bubble. They look up to see theit daughter standing in the doorway with a soft expression. "He told me to give it to you if you didn't find it by yourselves."

"Yeah, we did," Chloe says softly, waving her hand towards herself. "C'mere, baby."

Beca moves away from Chloe so PJ can sit in between them and wraps an arm around her daughter.

"Don't grow up too fast, all right PJ?" she demands, voice wavering slightly under the weight of emotions. She leans in to place a kiss on her daughter's forehead."I need some time before my other baby leaves the house, too."

"Don't worry, Ma," Penelope whispers, kissing Beca's cheek. "I won't."

"Okay, that's enough emotion for tonight!" Chloe says after their collective hug. "Dinner and a movie?"

"Yay! I'll go choose it." The twelve-year-old disappears from the room, and Beca sees her wife looking at her to make sure she's alright.

"God," she whispers, exhaling shakily. "Our kids are amazing."

Chloe wraps an arm around Beca's chest from behind. "I know."

"We did good, right?"

Chloe hums, setting her chin over Beca's shoulder. "Did you ever doubt we wouldn't?"

"I was _terrified_."

Beca's tone draws a laugh from Chloe and she feels a squeeze to her torso. "There was never a doubt on my mind you would be amazing at this. Clearly, I was right."

"I'm glad I get to do this life thing with you," Beca whispers, squeezing Chloe's upper arm. "Thanks for kissing me all those years ago when I wouldn't dare to."

Chloe giggles, nuzzling the crook of Beca's neck. "My pleasure. Wanna reenact it?"

"Chlo, is that a trick question?"


End file.
